INSIGHTS #20: Barath and Radhika on the Healthcare Landscape in India

We continue with the #INSIGHTSPodcast Series and in this episode, we focus on the healthcare sector and discuss opportunities and the market landscape using examples from the Accel portfolio. To talk about this exciting topic, We have Barath & Radhika, Principal & Sr Associate at Accel whose core focus investment areas are in Life sciences, Medtech and digital health.

On this podcast, we discuss the healthcare landscape in India using examples from the Accel portfolio and what to look for while building out a healthcare company from India :

Examples from Accel portfolio on problems being solved in healthcare for global markets

Lifesciences
What is life sciences - the model of an IP led lifesciences company solving global problems
Mitra Biotech -
Why did they choose to start in India?
The solution to an age old problem - How do you understand the effects of drugs on tumors without bombarding a patient with the drugs
Zumutor
Building a platform to develop molecules for improving drug delivery to cancer cells
Healthcare Delivery
The problems with the healthcare delivery in India
Moving care back to the home - counter intuitive insight and how Portea plugs the gaps in the delivery space
Digital health
Onco.com - using digital distribution to disrupt the current value chain and deliver better care for patients
Using AI to deliver healthcare in the diagnostics space - How sigtuple uses digital distribution and AI to deliver healthcare and diagnose correctly.

The Indian Advantage - Why healthcare is attractive in India

Capital efficiency from being in India
3x-5x advantage in capital required from building from India
Talent, Infrastructure arbitrage from India - The Indian pharma story for next wave of lifesciences
Speeding things up - How India helps speed up development
The regulatory advantage - lesser regulations for initial development of drugs
Using the initial momentum and taking the drugs to more regulated markets for trials - the difficulty of trials in the Indian market
Examples where the thesis on cost and time plays out
The estimates from Axio - getting to market with 1/10th the capital and 60% of the time to get to market with a great product
Setting the standards in India so the product goes global - no compromise on quality

The healthcare business - things to consider while getting into the healthcare sector

The trust process - building trust, and the time and effort it takes to build trust
Importance of IP - having a good IP and using peer-reviewed publications for validation and marketing
Patent portfolio and defensiblity of patents - defending incremental IP and not infringing existing patents, and filing patents to get it out in the world
The team - building a team as the company grows, and the expertise required; the differences between life sciences, and non-life science businesses
The Indian story - shift from communicable to chronic disease, infrastructure gap, mobile first country and the advantage technology provides in such an environment.